YEOSU, South Korea, Aug. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) today celebrated the grand opening of a new Research and Operations Center (ROC) at its facility in Yeosu, Korea. The celebration, which was held at the new ROC, included a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by regional and local dignitaries, customers, and media.

The Yeosu facility is currently producing lab-scale and pilot-scale quantities of single site catalysts and components used in the polymer industry. The ROC addition will house new analytical and polymerization labs designed to support R&D and manufacturing efforts for these products. Furthermore, it will help in generating new business throughout Asia Pacific in anticipation of Albemarle's commercial plant that is slated for completion at the Yeosu site later this year.

"Our Yeosu facility has been established as a world-class producer of polymer catalysts that utilize our ActivCat® and Advantage™ technologies. The ROC will be essential in scaling up production of these products to meet growing global demand and the specific needs of our customers," said Amy H. Motto, Vice President of Albemarle's Catalysts global business unit.

"The ROC is a state-of-the-art facility that will allow for the quicker development of new catalyst formulations and could considerably decrease time-to-market for our products," said Jason Bevan, Site Manager, Albemarle Chemicals Korea. "Our team in Korea has done an exceptional job in bringing this ambitious project to fruition."

Albemarle's board of directors has also approved the expansion of the existing Yeosu facility to produce Albemarle's PureGrowth™ products. These products are used in metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), a process used to manufacture chips for semiconductors, LEDs, and optoelectronic devices. The expansion is slated for completion in 2013.

About Albemarle's Performance Catalyst SolutionsAlbemarle's Performance Catalyst Solutions division, a segment of its Catalysts global business unit, delivers high performance catalyst solutions through a finished catalyst product portfolio. The division is comprised of three business units: Polymer Catalysts, Chemical Catalyst, and Electronic Materials. Collectively, these businesses provide performance-based products and services that are used in the plastics, industrial chemicals, and electronics industries.

About AlbemarleAlbemarle Corporation, headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a leading global developer, manufacturer, and marketer of highly-engineered specialty chemicals for consumer electronics, petroleum refining, utilities, packaging, construction, automotive/transportation, pharmaceuticals, crop protection, food-safety and custom chemistry services. The Company is committed to global sustainability and is advancing its eco-practices and solutions in its three business segments, Polymer Solutions, Catalysts and Fine Chemistry. Corporate Responsibility Magazine selected Albemarle to its prestigious "100 Best Corporate Citizens" list for 2010 and 2011. Albemarle employs approximately 4,000 people and serves customers in approximately 100 countries. Albemarle regularly posts information to www.albemarle.com, including notification of events, news, financial performance, investor presentations and webcasts, Regulation G reconciliations, SEC filings, and other information regarding the Company, its businesses and the markets we serve.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Albemarle Corporation's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K.